REPORT 


or  THE 


Committee  of  Claims, 


ON 


THE  PETITION 


or 


ELIZABETH  HAMILTON. 


JANUARY  11,  1810. 


Read  and  committed  to  a  committee  of  the  whole  house 
Wednesday  next. 


CITY  Of  WASHINGTON: 

J.  &  Q.  WATy  PaWTEBI. 

1810. 


REPORT. 


The  committee  of  claims,  to  whom  was  referred 
the  petition  of  Elizabeth  Hamilton, 

REPORT: 

THAT  it  is  stated  by  the  petitioner,  that  her 
late  husband,  col.  Alexander  Hamilton,  served 
as  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  army  of  the  United 
States,  during  the  revolutionary  war ;  that  in 
common  with  other  officers  he  was  entitled  to 
five  years  full  pay  as  commutation  for  half 
pay  during  life ;  that  her  husband  being  in 
congress  at  the  time  the  resolution  passed  ma- 
king this  provision  in  favor  of  the  officers  of 
the  revolution,  in  a  letter  to  the  secretary  of 
war,  he  relinquished  his  claim  to  commutation; 
and  the  petitioner  prays  for  the  amount  of  said 
commutation :  It  does  not  appear  from  any 
evidence  from  the  secretary  of  war,  or  of  the 
treasury,  "that  the  late  colonel  Hamilton 
ever  did  relinquish  his  right  to  half  pay  or 
commutation,  nor  can  the  committee  believe 
that  it  would  be  proper  or  generous  that  such 
relinquishment  should  be  relied  on  as  a  bar  to 
a  just  claim  upon  the  United  States  for  meri- 
torious services,  against  the  representatives  of 
such  claimant.  It  appears  from  a  letter  from  the 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  that  the  late  colonel 


4 


Hamilton  received  pay  as  an  officer,  tip  to  the 
end  of  February,  1782,  and  no  later. 

And  there  is  no  evidence  upon  the  treasury 
books,  or  books  of  the  war  office,  whether  at 
this  or  at  what  period  colonel  Hamilton  re- 
signed. The  committee,  however,  have  been 
furnished  with  a  document  which  induces  a 
belief  that  colonel  Hamilton  did  not  resign  his 
commission  until  after  the  28th  day  of  October, 
1783,  which  document  is  in  these  words:  "  In 
pursuance  of  an  act  of  Congress  of  the  30th 
day  of  September,  1783,  lieutenant-colonel 
Hamilton  is  to  take  rank  as  colonel  by  brevet, 
in  the  armies  of  the  United  States  of  America." 

Signed  at  Pnnceton,  October  28th,  1783,  by 
Elias  Boudinot,  president,  &c. 

The  committee  are  of  opinion,  that  the  reso- 
lution of  congress,  upon  a  liberal  construction, 
did  not  require  actual  service,  and  that  the  of- 
ficer should  be  in  the  receipt  of  his  pay  to  enti- 
tle him  to  commutation,  but  that  he  should 
have  a  commission,  and  be  at  all  times  liable  to 
be  called  on  to  perform  the  duties  of  his  station. 
The  committee  are  confirmed  in  this  opinion 
when  they  recollect  the  situation  of  the  United 
States  and  the  army  in  the  year  178  j,  and  in 
fact,  from  the  capture  of  Cornwallis  and  his 
army,  at  little  York,  in  the  state  of  Virginia, 
in  the  year  1781.  But  this  claim  is  like  all 
other  claims  of  this  description,  barred  by  the 
statute  of  limitation.  The  following  resolution 
is  offered : 

Resolved,  That  the  prayer  of  the  petition 
ought  not  to  be  granted. 


